The theme for Orange Conference 2019 is It’s Personal. On Thursday, October 18, registration opens for this incredible conference at the cheapest rate you will ever find it, $259. I, for one, love the theme for this upcoming conference because when things become personal, those things have a way of changing us and changing how we see things. Those changes help shape us and as ministry leaders, help shape those we are investing in daily, weekly, monthly, yearly. Below is how my life and ministry has been reshaped through attending the Orange Conference. Consider this your open invite to join me and 8,000 other leaders in Atlanta, Georgia, May 2019.

Have you ever been somewhere expecting some good things to happen only to have those expectations blown out of the water? That has been my experience every year that I am been blessed to attend the Orange Conference. I typically show up on Tuesday night for the big porch party, grab my registration bag, chat with a few friends that I've made since being involved with Orange in some capacity and then call it a night knowing that the week will be good, the worship will be good, the attendance will be good, the ideas shared will be good, and so on. It NEVER takes long for my expectations to be destroyed though, which with all things considered, that is a very good thing.

Reggie Joiner and team invest so much into leaders. Leaders just like you and me. Leaders in preschool ministry, elementary ministry, preteens, middle schoolers (we all know they need lots of investment, right?), high school ministry, family ministry, married ministry, people ministry, and the list goes on and on and on and on. The team at Orange puts together such a comprehensive conference that many, many church leaders who don't even use any curriculum produced by the folks at Orange, make the Orange Conference a priority to attend every year. Why do you ask? Allow me the opportunity to share just a couple of things that have helped shape me in ministry.

The biggest ministry changer for me has been the voices, the people, who have spoken directly to me without even knowing it. I think of a guy like Ryan Leak who visited his local Starbucks multiple times a week and began asking the folks who worked there how he could be praying for them. That rocked my world. I took that idea back home with me and began asking folks who were serving me at places like Chik Fil A how I could be praying for them. Just that one little question has produced a new confidence in me as an introvert to become more personal with "strangers" that I see on a weekly basis. I've been blessed to see and hear of how those prayers have been answered.

Let's play a little game if you don't mind. A little game I like to call, "Remember When?" Here's how you play: I'll ask you a question that starts with "Remember when" and you insert the appropriate response. Easy, right? Let's begin.

Remember when in that one season in your life when you had someone invest in you?

Here's another good one: Remember when you felt like what you were doing was making a difference in someone else's life?

Last one: Remember when you went to that big conference and wish you could bring your entire team, paid and/or volunteer?

I hope you liked my little game of Remember When! I can't really answer questions one and two for you but I sure can answer number three.

Perhaps you were among the 8,000 or so ministry leaders at Orange Conference 2018 and left there wishing that your entire team could have been there. Well, there's a way to get the best of #OC18 in your backyard and be able to get your team there. It's called Orange Tour 2018 or #OT18 for short. For one day only, June 7, tickets will be the absolute cheapest that you can get them for an amazing $50 off. That's right, a ticket for #OT18 is only $69. That price includes lunch, incredible breakouts, engaging main stage speakers, plus the awesome opportunity to network with other great ministry leaders like yourself.

Don't wait, sign you and your team up today to take advantage of the lowest price available.

Louie Giglio wraps up with the 3 day conference with an incredible version of What A Beautiful Name that includes the stars, whales, and birds singing this song of worship. Here's some great notes from his session:

I don’t know what to do, but my eyes are on You.

If we can just lift our eyes a little higher today…

Salvation always ends in worship.

Our destiny is worship.

"It's always about God, it's always been about God, and it always will be about Him.”

Sin makes us dead, but Christ makes us alive. This is the Gospel.

Worship is a weapon because it gets our gaze back on the God of heaven.

Your not David in the story of David & Goliath… Jesus is David in the story of David and Goliath

God is inviting us to wake up and look up…

David knew that he wasn’t the “David” in the story of David and Goliath

This session included the following speakers: Dr. John Townsend, Tom Shefchunus, Sam Collier, Reggie Joiner, Virginia Ward, Lee Jenkins, and Carlos Whitaker. Here's some great notes from these amazing leaders:

We can do more together when we invite others to show us our blind spots- Dr. John Townsend, Tom Shefchunus

Why does every leader need to deal with their blind spots?

Blind spot- tendency I’m not aware of

4 common blindspots- perception of having to have it together, to put tasks before relationship, conflict avoidness, harsh judge

How to give someone permission to speak into your blindspot- If you see me doing anything that would drive my life, my family or my leadership off a cliff, can I trust you to tell me way ahead of time?

We can do more together when we help others find their voice- Sam Collier

Kids want to be apart of something bigger than themselves. They want their voices to roar. It’s in you, it’s in me. We all want to find our voice.

It's Friday morning at #OC18! This is a full day in the arena for main session speakers. On the docket for this session were Josh Shipp, Tom Shefchunas, Kristen Ivy, and Ryan Leak. Here's some key takeaways from each speaker:

We can do more together when we create a safe place for kids over time- Josh Shipp

We don’t see you as a problem, we see you as an opportunity. -Rodney to Josh Shipp

Every kid is one caring adult away from being a success story.

Every kid is one choice away from being a statistic.

What kids don’t talk out, they will act out.

We can do more together when we create a safe place for kids who are different. - Kristen Ivy

When you get close to someone who is different than you, you see yourself differently.

When you get close to someone who is different than you, you see God more fully.

Truth is real, but perspective is different.

When you get close to someone who is different than you, you show the world what love is.

Our differences are an opportunity to show what unconditional love looks like.

We can do more together when we create a safe place for kids who are hurting. Tom Shefchunas

There is no strategy if there is no sacrifice.

What did Jesus choose to say and not to say

How did He choose to say it

When did He choose to say it

Sometimes we have to sacrifice our felt need to say everything so that what is most important can clearly be heard.

Wanting to be a safe place and being a safe place are two different things.

Microphones and websites are dangerous things because we can’t see their eyes.

We can do more together when we create a safe place for each other. -Ryan Leak

Friends are like elevators, they can take you up, or they can take you down.

Following Jesus doesn’t mean you won’t go through storms, it just means that you have an anchor with you through the storms.

"Lost and found people…have marriage problems. Unchurched people and church people…both have money problems. The outsider and the insider…often struggle with depression.”

What if we created weekend experiences for people that were in pain. Wouldn’t we find ourselves reaching outsiders and insiders?

What if we took the amazing grace that we offer to people who don’t know God, to people who do?

Pretending will never do anything for your soul and it won’t do anything else for anyone else either.

When we really get authentic, we become allergic to short responses. I’m going to become a person that doesn’t allow people to sweep things under the rug.

What do #OGRJ, A Million Dreams, and the number 8,100 have in common? Answer: night one of The Orange Conference 2018. Infinite Energy Center was rocking for a solid 2.5 hours Wednesday night. Here are some key statements made by folks like Jon Acuff, Gerald Fadayomi, Danielle Strickland and Reggie Joiner.

@jonacuff: We have a God who has said, "It is finished" not it is beginning. 81% of American's want to write a book, less than 1% actually do.

@geraldfadayomi: If you could only pray for one thing for the next generation, what would it be? Unity is not uniformity. It's setting our differences aside to make a difference.

@djstrickland: We can do more together when we live like the future is now. The Kingdom of God is like the wedding in the alley.

@reggiejoiner: We must be challenged to do something that we don't know how to do. Nehemiah didn't spend a month figuring out spiritual gifts. Nor did he say, "Go home and pray about it." Everybody Nehemiah needed was already in town. Chances are, hour future volunteers are already there, just ready to be put to work.

The afternoon sessions of the YouLead labs were just as informative as the ones from the morning sessions. I sat in on a session about what volunteers want from their leader led by Gina McClain. She is such a dynamic speaker and has the ability to connect with her audience immediately. It didn't hurt that she had some really awesome Charlie Brown and Snoopy shoes on. Here are some key points she made in her breakout:

How do you communicate when you delegate? Big Asks vs Small Tasks

A big ask is a mindset that conveys vision, clarify the win, and it’s going to have trust.

Small tasks- You have a mindset that wraps around a detailed to-do list (has a micromanagement feel)

You have to find the right leader to delegate to. When people see what God can do through them, their level of commitment will astound you.

How are you developing those you lead?

Coaching is consistently keeping the vision in front of your volunteer.

Coaching teaches your volunteers how to think.

Again, great stuff from @ginamcclain and I would encourage you to connect with her as she is just flat out, an incredible leader.

My second PM lab was presented by the Go Weekly team as they discussed created a social media strategy that can engage parents and help train leaders. This breakout was essentially a big plug for the Weekly tool that I use every week and has been an absolute game-changer in my ministry. You can find out more about Weekly at goweekly.com.

This morning consisted of two great breakouts all across The Forum at Infinite Energy Center. My first breakout was Navigating Infant Loss & Infertility, which was led by Kenny Conley. Kenny shared some hard to swallow statistics such as 1 in 4 pregnancies will end in miscarriage. 3 out of the 4 of those miscarriages end within the first trimester. As if those stats weren't devastating enough, 1 in 10 couples in the US face fertility issues. This breakout was totally relatable for me and was one that I was absolutely attached to since it was announced by the folks at Orange. You can see more of our story at www.ashersrainbow.org. Kenny plugged the Made Known resource that he and his wife Sarah helped create while serving in Austin, Tx. The church needs to find ways to better minister to this large population, in which, many fill the seats and pews of churches week in and week out with so many questions.

My second breakout of the day was Discovering What Volunteers Really Want- for Elementary Leaders, led by Bobby Ikebudu of Boca Raton Community Church. Here's a brief list of what Bobby shared: Every volunteer wants to follow a great leader, serve in a place that fits them, they want meaningful training (good food helps), they desire authentic community (we are made for community), they want to serve in a "we" type of culture, fill their bucket with vision, celebrate wins with big time fun.

If you’ve attended The Orange Conference in the past, you know that Tuesday nights informally kick off the week with a Party on the Porch. Music, games, Kona Ice, your favorite Orange Specialist and hundreds of like-minded folks gather for two hours of fun talking, dancing, coffee drinking, snow cone eating, name badge and registration bag retrieving, Orange store shopping, excitement.

If you’ve not attended The Orange Conference before, perhaps catching a glimpse of all the fun is enough to make you want to attend next year. Get the dates on your calendar now as #OC19 takes place in Atlanta May 1-3, with the Party on the Porch kicking off the week on Tuesday night, April 30. I’ll be blogging and posting interviews all week from various attendees and even hope to catch up with some of the speakers as well. I’ll also be live tweeting throughout the conference and you can follow along @dmaddron or simply by using the hashtag #OC18 in the search field.

In just a few days, 7,000 - 8,000 people will gather together in Atlanta, Georgia for three days of dynamic worship, teaching, networking, bridge building, note taking and Serious Night. That’s a lot of stuff to do in just three days, right? What is happening, you ask? It’s the 11th annual Orange Conference.

That’s right, this marks conference number 11 for the team at Orange. And it seems each conference just gets better and better and folks from around the world continue to leave inspired and driven to make their ministries better, their communities closer, and the family stronger.

Here’s a list of things that I’m looking forward to this year in no particular order:

YouLead Day- YouLead Day takes place on Wednesday morning/afternoon, and while it is an additional cost to the conference, it is a cost that I’ve deemed worthy of spending each year that I’ve gone. These tracks really dive into specific topics and have proven to be some of the best tracks of the entire conference. YouLead Day is all about equipping you in specific areas of ministry and is can’t miss type of content. If you have the opportunity to go, take advantage of it. You won’t regret it.

The Resource Center(s)- The Resource Center(s) at The Orange Conference are amazing. I emphasize centers because there are numerous vendors set us throughout both buildings along with the impactful Phase Gallery. The Phase Gallery really helps folks remember how short our time is with our kids and that what we do every single day matters. An extra perk of the Resource Center(s), FREE COFFEE. Drink a cup or two for me, please!

Party on the Porch- Tuesday night, from 7:00 - 9:00 PM, it’s Party on the Porch. This is one of the best times to network and connect with folks including your Orange Specialist. You can pick up your name tag and goody bag on Tuesday night, play some awesome games, take some cool pictures with their amazing backdrops, and munch on some yummy Kona Ice as DJ’s keep the party pumping with the help of party host, Sam Collier.

The Breakouts- The breakouts on Thursday are really good. You have a chance to hear from phenomenal leaders, learn how to align your teams (paid and volunteer), and how to make a greater impact in your ministry. Thursday is a great day at The Orange Conference.

The Food Trucks- King of Pops, Chick Fil A, I could go on and on and on, but it’s hard for me to move past these two Atlanta staples. You need a popsicle from King of Pops and a chicken sandwich before you leave OC18!

There you have it. Some of the many things that I am looking forward to at The Orange Conference. I didn’t even touch on Serious Night, because it's unlike anything else I’ve been apart of. That should whet your appetite and build some suspense! See you in Atlanta soon!

If you have been in attendance this week, say Amen to everything God has poured into you thus far. If you haven't been here, don't be discouraged. Hopefully, you are getting inspired enough to want to be present next year. Let's get into the day, shall we?

McNair Wilson was the morning speaker for the general session. He has done work with lots of corporations, both big and small, but the two that sticks out to me is his work with Chick Fil A and The Walt Disney Company as an Imagineer. I love them both for many of the same reasons, the way they treat their guests. I could go on, but you want to read more about the conference so let's proceed.

Here are just a few key statements from McNair in the general session.

What do you do best? Do you do it every day?

Years ago is the place you can’t get to from here. Don’t beat yourself up for what you didn’t do yesterday.

All actively creative people:

Take risks

Challenge assumptions

Stay curious

See differently

Failure is evidence that you’ve tried something.

Ask the question: what has never been done before?

Ok. There's just a bit from McNair. More from him in a bit as I also sat in on his breakout. That last statement though is worth us really spending some time trying to answer in how it relates to where we're doing ministry and our methods as children's ministry leaders.

Breakout #1- Effective Neighborhood Outreach led by Kevin Reynolds. The synopsis to this is being willing to meet kids and families where they are at. Build that relationship, get them wanting to come back for more, give them Jesus, and then watch them enter the doors of your church. So many churches are investing big time money from their budgets on getting people inside their churches for an event other than a weekend church service.

I think back to our own efforts as a church. This past Halloween, we saw 1,300-1,500 folks come through our doors. I measured that as a huge win except for the fact, a few days later, when our church doors were opened again, they didn't show up.

If we are going to be effective, we must be willing to meet folks where they are. Have your church members offer up their front yard for some neighborhood engagement. Don't stop with the one time. Build it up. Build a team to lead that neighborhood group and then you, as the children's m ministry leader, find another neighborhood and another front yard. Before long, you've got a handful of cell groups throughout your community who you've built relationships with and hopefully they are stepping foot on the weekends at one of your church services. Jesus went to where the people were, and then they began to follow Him. Stop expecting unchurched folks to walk into your doors without you having invested something in them. Let them see that you care and then they'll show you how much they care!

Breakout #2- HATCH: Brainstorming secrets of a Disney Imagineer

Let me just start off saying, buy this book. You can find it on his website: mcnairwilson.com

I'm not paid to say that either. This book has the ability to change you, your ministry and your church staff. Order 20, and he'll throw in a free 30 minute Skype session with your staff. Let me just tell you, BARGAIN!

Here are a few notes from his breakout:

When coming together for a brainstorming session, consider following these steps:

Start a Fire- let people know what the meeting is about and hold it to about 3-7 folks

Creative/Critical thinking (never do these together)

Yes, and- always follow up with this statement

No blocking/no wimping- must be a team player, nothing negative to be brought to these

More ideas- don't limit the number of ideas you bring to the table

Wild ideas- don't limit the craziness of an idea (McNair has helped create some great attractions at Disney parks all around the world)

McNair went on to share a conversation he had with Dan Cathey, of Chick Fil A. Dan raved about the book Good to Great and asked McNair his thoughts on it. McNair responded with such a great question that we absolutely must consider when thinking about our ministries "What's after great?" We simply can't stop at great.

My final thought of his to share is this: design spaces/events with the whole senses in mind (Sound, look, smell, feel, taste).

Have I mentioned how great the worship has been this week? Being in the presence of the Lord with a couple thousand other children's ministry leaders has been incredible.

Melissa J. MacDonald was the first of two speakers to take the stage Tuesday night. She is a great follow on twitter as well, in case you are not following her. @kidsconsultant is where you can find her in the Twitterverse. She is incredibly funny, fixing to be getting married, just had knee replacement while still in her 30's, and is a Jesus loving woman!

Melissa opened up her time with us with this statement "God is present, and you are here on purpose." She then challenged conference attendees to partake of CPC18 and to not just be an observer. She made many more great points, with a few that I'll share here.

How can you hear His voice if you never stop using yours?

Stop telling kids to start doing what you’ve stopped doing.

If you believe that you are made for “this”, then stop depending on yourself to figure it out.

If you are made for this, then be honest with yourself.

If you are made for this, there is nothing that comes your way that you can’t get through because He is with you.

Being broken, bruised or hurting doesn’t disqualify you from this, it really qualifies you.

Melissa was great and I would highly recommend you take the opportunity to get to know her or bring her to a camp or training.

Our second keynote was Beth Guckenberger. Beth and her husband Todd serve as Co-Executive Directors of Back2Back Ministries. They have a big heart for foster and adoptive ministries and themselves have raised ten children. Beth really opened her heart up to those in the room. Before leading us to take the Lord's Supper, Beth shared how we need to make room for Jesus when we find ourselves in stories that we don't make sense. I immediately connected with this point as I reflected how God has worked in my life through the death of our infant son Asher in 2014. It's nothing short of amazing in looking back at the work the Lord has done as a result of a lot of pain in our lives.

Beth also reminded us that there is no place too dark or too nasty that Jesus wouldn't go into. Afterall, look at where He was born. He desires to meet everyone right where they are at, regardless of where they been or what they've done. AMEN!

Do you have a heart for your community? Do you struggle from time to time with the question "How can our church become more impactful?" Have you searched and searched only to come up short with ideas of vision boosters for your church or ministry? I have a possible answer to those questions: the Orange Conference.

I am the Children's & Outreach Pastor at our church. Two big roles that require lots of attention and constant brainstorming, planning and praying. In everything that I am working on, I'm asking this one question: "How will this impact our community?" It's ingrained in my brain because I simply don't want to do anything that isn't impactful and isn't going to reach the unchurched in our neighborhood and surrounding areas. You probably think along that same thought process as well. You want to be as impactful as possible with a sermon you are preparing, worship services your worship is rehearsing for, a small group lesson you've studied for multiple hours this week. You want to help lead life change in your church and in your community. Attending the Orange Conference has done just that for me.

In 2016, I left the Orange Conference with an idea to start passing out popsicles and cold bottles of water in our local parks. Once the summer hit, we took a canopy tent and snocone machine and went into neighborhoods offering free snocones. What kid or adult doesn't like that stuff? Those free treats were the tools to start great conversations with folks of all ages. Our church has reaped in two areas because of these opportunities: families within our church serving their neighbors and families within our community attending our church because of a tasty summertime treat.

This year's theme for Orange Conference is titled ONE VOICE: We Can Do More Together. I would say that if you are seeking some fresh ideas, an opportunity to encourage and be encouraged from ministry leaders all across the world, you will want to find yourself in Atlanta, Georgia April 25-27, 2018. If you sign up by December 14, 2017, you'll get $70 off your ticket which results in the lowest ticket price before the conference starts. Visit theorangeconference.com to sign up today or to gather further information.

Have you ever been somewhere expecting some good things to happen only to have those expectations blown out of the water? That has been my experience every year that I am been blessed to attend the Orange Conference. I typically show up on Tuesday night for the big porch party, grab my registration bag, chat with a few friends that I've made since being involved with Orange in some capacity and then call it a night knowing that the week will be good, the worship will be good, the attendance will be good, the ideas shared will be good, and so on. It NEVER takes long for my expectations to be destroyed though, which with all things considered, that is a very good thing.

Reggie Joiner and team invest so much into leaders. Leaders just like you and me. Leaders in preschool ministry, elementary ministry, preteens, middle schoolers (we all know they need lots of investment, right?), high school ministry, family ministry, married ministry, people ministry, and the list goes on and on and on and on. The team at Orange puts together such a comprehensive conference that many, many church leaders who don't even use any curriculum produced by the folks at Orange, make the Orange Conference a priority to attend every year. Why do you ask? Allow me the opportunity to share just a couple of things that have helped shape me in ministry.

The biggest ministry changer for me has been the voices, the people, who have spoken directly to me without even knowing it. I think of a guy like Ryan Leak who visited his local Starbucks multiple times a week and began asking the folks who worked there how he could be praying for them. That rocked my world. I took that idea back home with me and began asking folks who were serving me at places like Chik Fil A how I could be praying for them. Just that one little question has produced a new confidence in me as an introvert to become more personal with "strangers" that I see on a weekly basis. I've been blessed to see and hear of how those prayers have been answered.

Speaking of being an introvert, I began praying to the Lord to change me. Not to make me some crazy extrovert, but to simply be brave and courageous enough to speak to strangers and genuinely pour into them in some way. Well, this prayer was answered by being asked to be the Outreach Pastor at my church. I don't know about you, but I've not met very many introverts who were also outreach minded and gifted. It all started with a prayer and testimony of what God could do if I was willing to be stretched a bit by Him.

If you are considering attending Orange Conference 2018, this is the week to get signed up. The great folks at Orange are offering a great discount this week. Remember, you don't need to be using the curriculum or anything else that Orange provides to take advantage of this great pricing and the opportunity to be encouraged and transformed at we hear of ways that the church can be One Voice. Dates for Orange Conference 2018 are April 25-27, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. Click here to register: http://orangeconference.com

Church leader, one of the things that's likely on your mind quite often is simply how can we reach more folks in our community for Christ. What is the secret anecdote to seeing more folks walk in the doors of our church on Saturday's and Sunday's. It's the age old question right? Thousands of books have been written on the topic from hundreds of "experts". It's all justified too in my opinion. These folks are simply sharing their success stories with us and the methods used along the way. I'd like to take just a moment to present another resource that quite possibly has some of the most effective steps in impacting your community for Christ: #OT17.

Whoooaaaaaa David...what's with the hashtag thing there? This hashtag is life changing and quite possibly ministry altering! #OT17 stands for Orange Tour 2017. Reggie Joiner and his incredible team of leaders will travel to 20 different cities across the U.S. to simply have a conversation with you about how you can be #ForOurNeighbors. That's another hashtag that you will be quite a bit between now and this Fall.

When Reggie Joiner presented this concept of being #ForOurNeighbors at Orange Conference 2017 (#OC17), so many thoughts were running through my mind. "If we could do this or do that, what would happen if we thought this way or approached people that way." "What if I started doing what he suggested?" All of these thoughts and ideas and mental results popped in my head!

I'll just tell you, I could go on and on about this but instead of doing that, let me offer you this. Today only, you can register for $20 off the regular ticketed price for #OT17. Simply go to: orangetour.org and get signed up today!

Get Connected

Leaders, get connected with a network of other leaders that are serving in the same/similar ministry as you. Build your network and levels of influence so that you become the absolute best leader your church has.